Unverified pictures started circulating on social media Thursday suggesting that Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the Russian mercenary boss who led a short-lived mutiny in June, was assembly with African officers in St. Petersburg, the place a few of the continent’s high leaders have converged for a summit with President Vladimir V. Putin.
The whereabouts and standing of Mr. Prigozhin, a caterer-turned-warlord, have been the topic of continuous questions since he tried to topple the Russian protection management final month, posing the largest safety risk to Mr. Putin’s authorities in a long time.
Questions even have continued about what is going to grow to be of Mr. Prigozhin’s operations in Africa, the place his Wagner forces are energetic in numerous nations, together with the Central African Republic and Mali.
The unverified pictures recommended not solely that Mr. Prigozhin was transferring freely in Russia however that he had entry to figures attending a significant diplomatic occasion, suggesting the Kremlin could also be endeavoring to harness his contacts and political good will in Africa regardless of the mutiny.
The first picture that appeared to attach Mr. Prigozhin to the summit surfaced on a Facebook account registered within the title of Dmitri Sytyi, a Russian nationwide whom the U.S. Treasury has sanctioned and described as an worker of Mr. Prigozhin within the Central African Republic. Neither the account nor the {photograph} might be independently verified.
The {photograph} exhibits Mr. Prigozhin shaking fingers with a person described in media experiences as a high official from the Central African Republic. They are standing beside what seemed to be an elevator within the Trezzini Palace, a luxurious resort in St. Petersburg lengthy related to Mr. Prigozhin.
The resort is about 40 minutes by automotive from the convention venue for the Russia-Africa summit, suggesting that Mr. Prigozhin might have been assembly with attendees one-on-one outdoors the confines of the occasion slightly than attending it. In the {photograph}, the African official seems to be sporting the multicolored lanyard from the summit.
Another {photograph} appeared on a Telegram channel related to Wagner later within the day, displaying Mr. Prigozhin wearing the identical white button-down shirt and bluejeans, assembly with an government from an African media conglomerate identified for espousing pro-Kremlin views.
The location of the assembly was unknown. In the picture, Mr. Prigozhin is standing in entrance of a big map of Africa. A Telegram channel related to Wagner described the picture as a gathering with the director of Afrique Média, a tv channel based mostly in Cameroon that has a partnership with the Russian state tv community RT.
Afrique Média didn’t reply to a request for remark.
A video appeared on Russian social media final week that apparently confirmed Mr. Prigozhin addressing his Wagner forces in Belarus, the place the Kremlin stated the mercenary boss can be transferring as a part of a deal he struck with Mr. Putin to cease the mutiny.
In the times since then, nonetheless, Mr. Prigozhin has been noticed in Russia, elevating questions on whether or not he certainly will retreat into an agreed-upon exile in Belarus, the neighboring nation intently allied with Moscow.
Source: www.nytimes.com